In the United States, shrimp are sold by count per pound.

This shrimp sizing chart is to be used for buying frozen or fresh Shrimp in the shell without the head on. All shrimp are sold by sizes, whether they are sold by the actual count or by a name such as jumbo or extra large. Shrimp will be labeled both ways to help you determine the size you are buying. For example a Jumbo Shrimp would have 21 to 25 shrimp per pound.

A note about shrimp sizes: having slowly been “supersized” over the years, some recent recipes, define “jumbo” shrimp as those sold as 16/20, meaning 16 to 20 shrimp per pound. In years past, 16/20 were “extra jumbo” and 21/25 were called “jumbo.” Bottom line is it always pays to shop for a shrimp recipe by the numbers, not the size names.

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Shrimp size and weight rating

The count represents the number of shrimp in a pound for a given size category. The “U” in the first three Shrimp Sizes stands for under that many shrimp in a pound. For example U/10 would be under 10 shrimp per pound. When grilling, the bigger the shrimp, the better. Extra Large or Jumbo Shrimp are used for most grilled shrimp recipes.

[...] favorite of shrimp recipe is from Spain. I totally love grilled shrimp from Spain! They use EXTRA, EXTRA LARGE SHRIMP. I have never seen them so massive here in the says but come do come pretty [...]

[...] or coconut cream instead of heavy cream. I buy the 26-30 or 31-35 count shrimp size (you can view this helpful chart, by the Grilling Guide, about what shrimp counts mean pertaining to the size of shrimp you are [...]